Compelling questions, astounding answers
LOREN BENOIT/Press Canfield Middle School sixth-grader Mari Nelson pours 7UP into a measuring cup before dropping Skittles candies into cups for her science project. Mari’s experiment explored how fast it takes a Skittles candy to dissolve in different solutions.
Sixth-grader Cammi Padilla sets up her science experiment prior to judging Wednesday afternoon at Canfield Middle School. Padilla’s experiment explored how fast ice cubes melt in different solutions and temperatures. Her ice cubes melted faster under running running water than in an oven and in standing hot water. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Sixth-grader Michael Spoerl blows air into a balloon for his science experiment Wednesday afternoon at Canfield Middle School. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Thomas Staples, an assistant principal at Canfield Middle School, writes notes on a sheet of paper as he judges the sixth-grade science projects on Wednesday afternoon. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
By DEVIN WEEKS
Staff Writer
COEUR d’ALENE — Who needs electricity when you’ve got imagination?
Not Canfield Middle School sixth-grader Michayla Phipps. Using research and the scientific method, she has figured out how to make a pretty groovy homemade lava lamp, sans outlets or batteries.
"I felt like it would be cool and different and not everyone would think of it," she said, showcasing her science project in Canfield’s cafeteria Wednesday afternoon.
Michayla was curious about what substances could work to make a lava lamp, so she combined denture cleaner with water, baking soda with vegetable oil and baby oil with salt. She concluded the baking soda/vegetable oil blend was the most successful at duplicating a classic lava lamp, which consists of wax and translucent liquid that moves when heated.
"It made bigger and stronger bubbles,” she said.
Michayla's quest to understand how lava lamps work was just one of the many educational journeys students embarked upon as they participated in Canfield's inaugural sixth-grade science fair.
"I’ve been wanting to do this for years," said fair co-organizer and sixth-grade science teacher Alli Robitaille. "I really felt like this group of sixth-graders was really willing and really excited about learning and energetic. I thought, ‘If I can get any group to do this successfully, I'm going to start with this one.’ They’re our guinea pigs."
Each sixth-grader was required to choose a topic and investigate it using the scientific method, which includes formulating a hypothesis and testing it through observation, measurement and experimentation. Not all students submitted projects for the fair, but they all completed an investigation for their teachers to review.
Students asked an assortment of intriguing questions — Can a textbook stop a bullet? Do we have a dominant side of our brain? Do dogs have a favorite food? What happens when you don't put eggs in cookies?
They investigated the human heart and how it pumps blood, what materials are best for bridges, what conditions are best for mushrooms to grow and why salt water isn't used as the main water source for the people of Earth.
Christiana House was surprised by the results of her project, which inquired, "Do magnets help plants grow better?"
The answer: Yes they do, and by about 2 inches.
"My granddad is a gardener and our plants sometimes just really don't grow, so I was wondering, 'What if we added magnets?'" she said. "I had different magnets and the ones attracting to each other actually had more growth."
Christiana researched geomagnetism and the geomagnetic field as she investigated the effects magnets have on plants. She put different magnets in cups of dirt with seeds and recorded how they grew.
"I told my granddad and he's now ordering giant magnets to put in his garden," she said. "I was kind of surprised because I was expecting the ones that push away would grow better."
This was her first science fair, and she said she was really pleased with the experience.
"I'm happy that other kids are willing to show their ideas," she said. "You never know how they will help in the future."